Dodge City Middle School Celebrates Red Ribbon Week

DCMS will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week from October 22nd through October 29th. Red Ribbon Week serves as a vehicle for communities and individuals to take a stand for the hopes and dreams of our children through a commitment to drug prevention and education and a personal commitment to live drug free lives with the ultimate goal being the creation of drug free America. DCMS Student Council has organized a “Spirit Week” with theme days to help celebrate:

Monday Oct. 22 - Crazy Hair Day and Wear a Red Ribbon. Students will sign a pledge card and receive a red ribbon to wear the rest of the week.

Tuesday Oct. 23 – Sweats and favorite team shirts Day

Wednesday Oct. 24 – Nerd Day

Thursday Oct. 25 – Pink Day

Monday Oct. 29 – Super Hero Day - Choose your favorite “Hero”. Your hero can be a comic book character or someone who has made a lasting impression on you.

DCMS Science Fair October 19th

On October 19th we will be judging the DCMS science fair in the morning. There will be 10 students from each 7th and 8th grade teams in the competition this year, making a total of 40 students participating. On Monday Oct. 22nd we will be having a parent night to show case the students’ displays. The ceremony will begin with a presentation of awards to the top 3 students and then the parents and students will be invited to walk around to look at the other contestant’s work. The top 3 students will then be invited to attend the regional science fair in Liberal later in the school year. Students who attend the ceremony with their parents will receive a non-uniform day the next day.

"The End of Bullying Begins with Me.”

During the month of October, Dodge City Middle School will participate in the PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Month. This year all DCMS students will share the message “The End of Bullying Begins with Me.” This is a great time for DCMS students to take action to prevent bullying in our school, community, and online. Students throughout the month of October will listen to podcast, preview videos and participate in student council activities during extension time. To learn more about the bully prevention month activities you select Extention Time.

Lexile Reading Inventory

During the last week in September of this school year, every student at DCMS was given a Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), a test that evaluates a student’s reading level. In the test, students complete questions about passages they have read. These passages come from fiction and nonfiction books as well as from informational materials The Lexile Framework for Reading is a scale for measuring a student’s reading level. This helps teachers place students in a reading program, match students to books for independent reading and track each student’s growth.

Student Led Conferences

During the October student led conferences your child will share with you their lexile reading level. Parents can use Lexiles to select texts that reinforce what teachers are trying to accomplish in the classroom. It is important to note that the Lexile measure does not address the content or quality of the book. Many other factors affect the relationship between a reader and a book, including its content, the age and interests of the reader and the design of the actual book.

Lexile Measures

The Lexile measure is a good starting point in the book selection process. Students are more likely to read books that match their current reading level. By using Lexile measures, teachers can assign and recommend books and other reading materials that will help students develop stronger reading skills. To help parents and students select books based on the students current lexile a Find A Book website has been developed to help locate books that are at the correct reading level using a student's SRI scores.

The chart above on the right provides a grid representing an approximate Lexile Level range for each grade as it relates to the new Common Core standards for reading.

Improve Your Child's Reading

Improving your child’s reading abilities requires regular practice both at home and school. As a parent or caregiver you can support your child by frequently reading to him/her, listening to him/her read for a short time each day and by encouraging his/her progress. When choosing suitable books for your child, in addition to choosing text with the appropriate level, care should also be given to content that interests your child. The list below offers some suggestions for supporting your child’s reading progress:

Encourage 20 minutes of reading everyday from a book of your child’s choice.

Help your child find books that are at the appropriate reading level.

Show that you value reading by filling your home with books, magazines and newspapers.

Talk about mail, advertisements and food labels.

Talk about words.

Show your child that adults also learn new words. Keep a running list of new words that you want to learn together.

Encourage your child to write letters or postcards – or perhaps your child might be interested in keeping a journal.

Show interest in what your child is reading. Ask questions about the plot of the story. Ask about the characters.

Set a goal as to the number of books your child might be able to read over a period of time. Celebrate the successful completion of that goal.

Rent videos on a topic that your child is interested in. Find books on a similar topic.

October is Bully Prevention Month

What is bullying? At first glance, many people might think this behavior is easy to define. Their first image of bullying might be of a physically intimidating boy beating up a smaller classmate. While that can still be considered bullying today, parents need to know that bullying behaviors can be much more complex and varied than that typical stereotype. For example, harmful bullying can also occur quietly and covertly, through gossip or on the Internet, causing emotional damage. Let’s consider a few definitions of bullying. Although definitions of bullying vary, most agree that an act is defined as bullying when:

The behavior hurts or harms another person physically or emotionally. Bullying can be very overt, such as fighting, hitting or name calling, or it can be covert, such as gossiping or leaving someone out on purpose.

It is intentional, meaning the act is done willfully, knowingly and with deliberation.

The targets have difficulty stopping the behavior directed at them and struggle to defend themselves.

Bullying can be circumstantial or chronic. It might be the result of a situation, such as being the new student at school, or it might be behavior that has been directed at the individual for a long period of time.

School Attendance Matters

Regular school attendance is a necessary part of the learning process and the means to graduation with a good education. Students who are frequently absent may be putting their futures in jeopardy. Chronic absenteeism, especially truancy, is a behavior that is highly associated with dropping out of school. Regular attendance is essential for success in school. The following facts are associated with attendance and obtaining a quality education.

Fact One: Absenteeism hurts the student. Students who are frequently absent fall behind in academics and miss important socialization concepts that enhance their ability to understand and follow directions and, ultimately, plan for the future.

Fact Two: Absenteeism hurts other students. Students who are frequently absent require more individual attention from the teacher.

Fact Three: Absenteeism hurts the school and district. State financial support for schools is directly linked to student attendance. When students are absent, the school loses funding.

VISION STATEMENT

Dodge City Middle School will foster a culture with independent learning where students can achieve their full potential in academics, personal, physical and moral development in the 21st Century.